Breweries Sell Shares, Join Forces, Expand

Two Colorado breweries, Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont and Odell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, have established employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). Left Hand launched a program in June after finalizing the repurchase of common shares from current stockholders.

Odell co-founders Doug, Wynne and Corkie Odell sold a majority stock interest to three senior brewery executives and 19 percent to a newly formed ESOP. The remaining stock is retained by the individual co-founders.

Firestone Walker Brewing Co. of Paso Robles, California, has joined U.S. operations with Belgian brewer Duvel Moortgat. The deal will allow Firestone Walker, the 16th-largest craft brewery in America, to grow its capacity across the country. Duvel acquired Boulevard Brewing Co. of Kansas City, Missouri, in October 2013 and Brewery Ommegang of Cooperstown, New York, back in 2003.

Several breweries have announced notable new brewery locations and projects. Scotland’s BrewDog plans to arrive in America with a new brewery in Columbus, Ohio. The 100,000-square-foot brewery will include a 100-barrel brewhouse where the full line-up of beers will be made, from Punk IPA to brewery-exclusive small-batch releases.

One year after Petaluma, California-based Lagunitas Brewing Co. opened a facility in Chicago, founder and owner Tony Magee announced it will open a third brewery in Southern California. According to Magee, the brewery will open with the capacity to brew 420,000 barrels with the potential to produce 1 million barrels annually.

Also: Pabst Brewing Co. is going home; the company announced its plans to open an innovation brewery in Milwaukee on the site of its original production brewery. The complex, scheduled to open in summer 2016, will include a bar and restaurant, beer garden and tasting room. The brewery plans to produce heritage brands like Kloster and Old Tankard Ale alongside “new craft beers inspired by recipes from the Pabst archives,” according to a press statement.